Star athletes and prominent Houstonians fill church to celebrate President George HW Bush

But if the people who arrived for his final ceremony Thursday at St. Martin's Episcopal Church are any indication, the late president had nothing to worry about.

Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale, J.J. Watt, Chuck Norris, longtime ABC13 anchor Dave Ward, Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Houston Astros Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio, former Astro and executive advisor to the team Nolan Ryan, current Houston Astros owner Jim Crane and his wife, Houston Dash star Kealia Ohai and former Mayor of Houston Bill White were all seen walking into the church before the service.

Mattress Mack says he first got to know the president through tennis tournaments at the Westside Tennis Club.

"The thing I'll always remember about him, he always had the same respect for the parking valet and the waiter as he did the million dollar donor," Mattress Mack told ABC13.

The president likely shared fond memories with other guests he personally invited to his funeral service including Schwarzenegger, who recalled earlier this week how he went sledding with him at Camp David in 1991.

Schwarzenegger explained that Bush tried to teach him how to sled, and in the process, they ended up crashing into Barbara, the president's wife.

"I was only used to sledding down with Austrian sleds, which you direct kind of with your feet. So we went down totally out of control," Schwarzenegger said.

Along with the athletes, David Dewhurst, former lieutenant governor of Texas, and Dr. Ed Young, pastor of Second Baptist Church, former Harris County Judge Robert Eckels, former United States Secretary of Education Rod Paige, and socialite and philanthropist Lynn Wyatt were also spotted.

Thursday's service caps four days of events for Bush 41, which included a state funeral at Washington's National Cathedral on Wednesday.

After the private service, the president's motorcade left the church and will travel to Spring, where his casket will be loaded onto a custom train, Bush 4141, named for the president and painted in the likeness of Air Force One.

It will transport the president's body to College Station, where he will be buried next to Barbara and their daughter Robin, who died of leukemia at age 3 in 1953.